1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to backing up and restoring databases, and in particular to a method and system for restoring items to a database while maintaining referential integrity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organizations frequently use databases to store data vital to their company's operations. Because of the importance of the information stored in databases, mechanisms are needed to backup the databases. In particular, a database is often backed up as a single, monolithic database file, which contains all the tables, records, and indexing information for the database. When it becomes necessary to restore the database, or portions of the database, different types of restore operations are possible.
There are many different varieties of databases that may be used to fit the needs of an organization. For example, one type of a database may be a Microsoft®SharePoint® database. A Microsoft® SharePoint® database may be a collection of products and software elements that includes a plurality of components, web browser based collaboration functions, process management modules, search modules and a document-management platform. SharePoint may also be used to host web sites that access shared workspaces, information stores, documents, and host-defined applications such as blogs. SharePoint users may manipulate proprietary controls called “web parts” or interact with pieces of content such as lists and document libraries.
Data and files generated in highly customized Microsoft Office® or Access® applications may be incorporated in a SharePoint database. These applications may contain lists that are dependent on each other. The data from these applications may be backed up, and then when the data is restored, the relationships between the list items may need to be preserved for the applications to function as they did prior to the backup and restore operations. For example, a user may select an individual item to be restored, and the user may not know that the selected item has dependent items that must also be restored for the application to be rebuilt to its previous state. If only the user selected item is restored to the application, the application may not work or function as intended.
In view of the above, improved methods and mechanisms for restoring items from a backup copy of a database to maintain the relationships between dependent items are desired.